Tire building apparatus



June 23, 1936.

E. 1.. HEID TIRE BUILDING APPARATUS Filed April 12, 1934 3' Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR fldu ard L. Heid ATTORNEYS June 23, 1936. E. L. HEID TIRE BUILDING APPARATUS Filed Aprill2, 1954 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR Edward. L. Haiti I ATTCVRNEYS 23, 1936. E HEID 2,045,554

' TIRE BUILDING APPARATUS Filed April 12, 1954 s Sheet-Sheet 5 mvzmon Edward L. Heid ATTORNEY Patented June 23, 1936 UNITED STATES PATENT oFFicE TIRE BUILDING APPARATUS Edward'L. Heid, Akron, Ohio, assignor to The Firestone Tire & Rubber Company, Akron, Ohio, a corporation of Ohio Application April 12,

. 1 Claim.

. This invention relates to tire building apparatus, and more especially it relates to apparatus for storing quantities of tire building material in proximity to a tire building machine so as to be withdrawn by thelatter in the building of pneumatic tire casings. a

The invention is an improvement over the prior practice of preparing fabric for tire building which comprised splicing strips of rubberized, bias-cut fabric end to end to form a continuous strip of relatively long length, and winding the said strip on a roll with a liner. These operations were performed remote from a tire building machine, and the rolls of fabric frequently were stored for some time before use. The practice was wasteful in that it required the use of a large amount of liner, numerous shells or rolls on which to wrap the same; it required space for storage 1 of the stock; it required transportation of the rolls of stock from one point to another, and time of the tire builder was required for mounting rolls of fabric for use at the'tire building machine.

The chief objects of the invention are to avoid the use of large amounts of liner and shells for winding fabric and liner; to avoid storing of large amounts of tire building fabric after it has been bias-cut to width; and tosave time and labor and thus to expedite the building of pneumatic tires. Other objects will be manifest.

Of the accompanying drawings: Figure 1 is an elevation of apparatus embodying the invention, in its preferred form;

Figure 2 is a plan view thereof; Figure 3'is an elevation, on a larger scale, of a portion of the apparatus shown in Figure 1, as viewed from the rear thereof;

Figure 4 is a section on the line, 4--4 of Figure 3; and

Figure 5 is a section on the line 55 of Figure 3. 4O 7 Referring to the drawings, It is a pedestal base or support, H is a vertical spindle rotatably mounted therein, and I2 is'a turret that is mounted upon said spindle and is vertically adjustable thereon. The turret 12 consists of an open metal framework that carries a plurality of rolls of tire building material, preferably of various widths and bias angles, sufficient for. the building of a pneumatic tire casing. The turret framework as shown has four sides although obviously it may have more or less than four if desired. When in operative position, one side of the turret is in a work-delivery position wherein it is aligned with the tire-building form or drum l3 of a tire-building machine 4. Another side of the turret, (the opposite side as herein illustrated) is in work-re- 1934, Serial No. 720,230

ceiving position in alignment with a work-table l5 whereon a length of tire-buildingfabric may have its leading end spliced to the trailing end of a strip already in the apparatus.

The stock rolls and their driving mechanism on the respective sides of the turret are identical in structure so that a description of one of them will be suflicient.

Upon each side of the turret is a pair of parallel, horizontal shafts I1, 18 that are disposed one above the other in a vertical plane and journaled at their respective ends in journaled brackets I9 that are mounted on the framework of the turret. Mounted upon the upper shaft H, is a liner rewinding roll or shell 20, and mounted upon the shaft I 8 is a roll or shell 2| upon which liner and tire building fabric is wound. One end of shaft 18 extends beyond its bearing bracket and is provided thereat with a sprocket 22 that is connected by a sprocket chain 23 to a sprocket 24 journaled on a stub shaft 25. The latter is 'mounted on and projects laterally from a plate 26, there being a pair of the latter secured to turret frame l2 and projecting outwardly therefrom on each side ofrthe turret. The hub of sprocket 24 is formed with a relatively wide disc 2'! that has its periphery covered with frictional material 28 such as leather, as is most clearly shown in Figure 5, the perimeter of the friction disc preferably being larger than sprocket 24. The friction disc constitutes part of the means by which the roller 2| may be power-driven, upon occasion, when tire building fabric is to be fed thereonto.

For driving the said friction disc, a. motor 30 is mounted upon a bracket 3| that is secured to the frame of table I5 and extends laterally therefrom',,said motor being connected to a reduction gear device 32 having a drive shaft 33 upon which is amounted a sprocket 34. A spindle 35 is mounted upon the frame of table 15in axial alignment with shaft 33, and pivotally mounted upon said spindle is a swinging arm 36 upon the free end of which is a laterally projecting stub-shaft 31 upon which is journaled a sprocket 38 that is connected by sprocket chain 39 with sprocket 34. The hub of sprocket 38 is formed with a disc 40 that is similar to disc 21 and has a peripheral covering of friction material 4|. The arrangement is such that the arm 36 may be swung angularly on its pivot to carry the friction disc 40 into frictional driving engagement with disc 21.

For so swinging arm 36, a link 43 is connected thereto and has connection, through bell-crank 44 mountedon the table frame, with a link 45 connected to one end of a foot-lever 46 that is pivotally mounted in a bracket 41 on the floor beneath the table I5. A tension spring 48 connected to one end of foot-lever 46 and to a fixed point normally functions to hold arm 36 in retracted position, with disc 40' in spaced relation to disc 21.

The strips of tire-building fabric shown herein are designated 50, and the liners are designated 5|. The liner has its respective ends connected to liner rewind roll 20 and to roll 2|, the arrangement being such that it may be wound onto said rolls in alternation as it is unwound from the other roll. The rolls 2!], H are so arranged that the fabric strip 50 passes over liner rewind roll 25 as it is wound onto roll 21 and as it is withdrawn therefrom. Thus roll 20 is rotated in one direction by the Withdrawal of liner therefrom, and is driven in the opposite direction by the friction of the fabric strip 50' as the latter is drawn thereover in passing from supply roll 2| to the tire-building drum l3, in which direction of rotation roll 20 rewinds the liner 51 thereon. Over-run of roll 2| when driven by motor 3% or by the withdrawal of fabric therefrom is prevented by a brake shoe 52 that rests upon one end of the roll, said brake shoe being pivotally mounted upon an arm 53 that is pivotally connected at one end to the turret frame at 54, there being a weight 55 adjustably mounted upon the free end of said arm 53.

For guiding and supporting the fabric strip 50 from the table l5 onto roll 20 and from roll 20 onto drum l3,'there is provided a tray 51 that is pivotally mounted at 58 upon and between plates 26. An over-center tension spring 59 is connected to tray 51 and to the turret frame in such a manner as yieldingly to urge the free end of the tray downwardly to an operative position adjacent drum l3 or table l 5, as shown in full lines in Figure l, or alternatively to an elevated, inoperative position shown in broken lines. in said figure. The tray 57 is provided with a pair of laterally adjustable guidestfi, 60 for engaging the respective lateral margins of strip 50 to guide it accurately to the roll 2| or drum i3, and the free end of the tray is provided with a slightly elevated rod 6| under which said strip passes and about which the adjacent end of the said strip may be folded to retain it in place when the tra is in an elevated, inoperative position as shown in Figure 2. Slotted brackets 64, 64 may be mounted upon the tire machine l4 and table I5 respectively in position to receive respective frame portions of the trays 5'! whereby the turret is retained in proper angular position to deliver fabric to drum [3 or to receive fabric from the table I5.

In the operation of the apparatus, fabric strips 58 may be fed to a supply roll 2| on one side of the apparatus at the same timethat fabric is To supply the apparatus a strip 50 of fabric thereon and splices one of its ends to that end of the fabric in the turret that is on the adjacent tray 51, said tray being lowered to operative position for this purpose by the operator. After the fabric is spliced, the operator steps on foot lever 46 and thus moves the constantly driven friction disc 40 into driving engagement with disc 21, whereby the supply roll 2| is driven to wrap the strip 50 thereon together with liner 5i that is concurrently withdrawn from rewinding roll 20'. The operator releases foot lever 46 as soon as the trailing edge of the strip being fed reaches the tray 51, the operator then anchoring said. trailing edge by folding it about the rod 6| at the free end of the tray. The operator then raises the tray to inoperative position. If at this time no fabric is being withdrawn by the tire machine, the operator may rotate the turret to bring another side of the turret into alignment with table l5 and repeat the operation. Usually it is possible for one operator to supply fabric to several turrets.

Removal of fabric from the turret is under the control of the tire builder at tire machine 14. He lowers'a tray to operative position whereby the free end of the tray is disposed adjacent the building drum l3. He then attaches the end portion of the strip 59 on the tray to the drum or to the fabric plies already'thereon, and rotates the drum to withdraw the fabric strip from supply roll 20 and wrap it about the drum. In passing over the liner rewinding roll 20, the moving fabric strip drives the latter and thusrewinds theliner thereon as said liner is withdrawn, with the fabric strip, from roll 20. After the proper amount of fabric is withdrawn, the operator severs the strip, anchors an end thereof over rod 6| of the tray, and raises the latter to inoperative position. If no fabric at this time is being fed into the turret, the operator may rotate the turret and repeat the operations described at another side thereof.

The invention saves time, labor and floor space, and accomplishes the other objects set out I. in the foregoingrstatement of objects.

Modification may be resorted to without de- 7 station, drive means comprisinga friction disc connected with saidsupply roll, a constantly driven rnotor at the fabric-receiving station, a

friction disc driven thereby, and manually operated means for moving the last-mentioned friction disc into driving engagement with the firstmentioned friction disc.

EDWARD L. HEID. 

